CHICOPEE - The Planning Board approved a site plan for an about $45 million business complex off Burnett Road that will include a hotel, gas station and several restaurants, but the developers will need other permits before they can begin construction.

The approval, granted in a 7-0 vote last week, is contingent on developer Dinesh Patel receiving permits from the state Department of Transportation to create an entrance to the complex off what is technically Interstate 291. The final plans will also have to be reviewed and endorsed by the city engineer and other city officials before building begins.

Patel is planning to build a four-story, 14,044 square-foot hotel as the anchor of the new project. Other buildings on the eight-acre property include a sit-down restaurant that will measure 6,111 square feet and have 233 seats; two fast-food restaurants, one of which will have a drive-thru window; an about 2,275-square-foot coffee shop with a drive-thru and a gas station with convenience store.

"The gas station is the only tenant we have," said John Furman, managing director of VHB, which is designing the plans. "We are talking to other tenants but so far no one has put ink to paper." Furman did not release information about the potential tenants.

In 2017 Patel closed and demolished the Econo Lodge on that property and announced he would be building a new hotel and other buildings on the eight acres he owns on Burnett Road next to the Fifties Diner. In May he submitted definitive site plans for the project.

The plans call for First Avenue to be extended across Burnett Road and be used as the main access road for the businesses. Because the road is considered part of I-291, Patel must receive approvals from the state Department of Transportation to create the new road, Furman said.

There is a traffic signal at the intersection but developers have agreed to upgrade the signal as part of the project, he said.

The project has gone through a state Environmental Policy Act review and is awaiting final approvals from the Department of Transportation. Several state legislators and Jay Ash, the secretary of Housing and Economic Development, have spoken in support of the development, Furman said.

City Planner Lee Pouliot recommended the Planning Board delay the vote for the site plan in case the state demands changes that will require alterations. Furman instead requested a conditional approval saying he was not sure if the Department of Transportation will give approvals for the road by the board's July meeting.

Members said they did not believe the state will request major changes in the plans and felt comfortable approving them with the conditions.

The developers likely will have to return to the board as many as four more times. When tenants are found for each of the locations they typically will request minor changes in the plans to fit their individual businesses, which will need Planning Board approvals, Furman said.

The process is consistent with the Chicopee Crossing project on Memorial Drive. There the developers received approvals for a hotel, two restaurants, a bank and retail space 10 years ago. Since then they have modified the site plans multiple times as different businesses have moved in.